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Kansas City Royals designated hitter has raised his batting average from .188 to .205 in the last two games. He went 2 for 5 in KC's 16-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, July 20, 2017.

Kansas City Royals designated hitter has raised his batting average from .188 to .205 in the last two games. He went 2 for 5 in KC's 16-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, July 20, 2017. Josh TolentinoThe Kansas City Star

Kansas City Royals designated hitter has raised his batting average from .188 to .205 in the last two games. He went 2 for 5 in KC's 16-4 win over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, July 20, 2017. Josh TolentinoThe Kansas City Star

Royals set a season high in runs in 16-4 victory over Tigers

In the first inning on Thursday night, Eric Hosmer sprinted up the back of a teammate who had hit a stop sign at third base. Moments later, Salvador Perez inexplicably broke for home on a ground ball to first base.

Both decisions defied fundamentals and ventured into the realm of the careless. The results offered an apt summation of what transpired in the Royals’ 16-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers inside Kauffman Stadium. In a matter of minutes, the Tigers’ defense opened the game with an error and then committed two more. The Royals’ offense struck for four runs against Detroit starter Michael Fulmer.

In a series finale on a furnace-blasting summer night, Kansas City turned over-aggressive base running into a weaponized strategy before blowing the doors off the competition.

“It wasn’t textbook by any means,” Royals manager Ned Yost said.

The Royals would finish the game with a season-high 16 runs while cranking out 19 hits. They would set a franchise record by scoring four runs in four different innings. The explosion began in earnest, in a slightly strange first inning.

The first sign of something odd came when Perez blooped a single to shallow left with runners at first and second and the score already 1-0 for the Royals. Hosmer tried to move first to third, not realizing that Jorge Bonifacio had held at third-base coach Mike Jirschele’s stop sign. The awkward encounter caused Bonifacio to get hung up between third and home. But an errant throw home from Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias allowed Bonifacio to score standing up.

Moments later, Perez found himself at third base with the score 3-0 when Alcides Escobar chopped a grounder toward first. Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera stepped on first base as Perez hauled for home. The throw was on time, but Tigers catcher James McCann whiffed on the tag. Perez tucked his hand under the glove, and then smiled in delight as he pointed toward first-base coach Rusty Kuntz.

“It worked out in every case,” Yost said. “It was really a heck of a slide by Salvy.”

The Tigers’ defense was a shambles. Yet one night after a thrilling walk-off victory, the Royals concluded a series by pounding their opponents to a bloody pulp. Brandon Moss and Alex Gordon roped back-to-back RBI doubles during a four-run third inning. Hosmer and second baseman Whit Merrifield clubbed solo homers. Yost emptied the bench in the late innings, and ten different players finished with base hits.

The Royals (47-47) split the four-game series with Detroit and pulled back to .500 after opening the homestand with four losses in five nights. When they open a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox on Friday, they will sit just 1 1/2 games behind first-place Cleveland (48-45) and a game behind second-place Minnesota (48-46).

“A clubhouse full of good baseball men,” said Royals starter Danny Duffy, who allowed four runs in five innings. “And they were out there getting their hands dirty today.”

In one translation, this was a beating. A slumping offense that produced just 16 runs in the first six games of the home stand finally broke out on Thursday. By the third inning, the Royals had handed Fulmer, the reigning American League Rookie of the year, one of the most miserable nights of his young career. In 44 career starts, Fulmer had never allowed seven runs or logged fewer than three innings. On Thursday, he was tagged for eight runs (five earned) in 2 2/3 frames.

“I feel like he pitched us different than he normally does,” said Lorenzo Cain. “Normally, he comes out throwing his heater, establishing his fastball and then he works in his off-speed stuff every now and then. But tonight he was full go off-speed.”

The offensive eruption was enough for Duffy, who cruised through four innings before faltering in the suffocating heat. Duffy yielded three runs in the fifth, in part because he failed to cover first base on a potential double play. The moment was reminiscent of a Sunday in Cleveland in late May, when Duffy sustained an oblique strain after being late to cover first. On Thursday, there was no serious injury. In the moments after the victory, Duffy said he didn’t think he would have been able to get to the bag in time anyway.

Duffy would allow another run in the sixth before left-handed reliever Mike Minor was summoned with two on and nobody out. Minor stranded the runners and the Royals’ offense kept churning out rallies.

Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas was 3 for 4 with three RBIs, while seven players finished with at least two hits. Moss, the once embattled designated hitter, finished 2 for 5, raising his average from .188 to .205 across two nights at Kauffman Stadium. As he returned to his locker, the sounds of shouting children filled the Royals’ clubhouse. For the first time all season, Moss said, he felt comfortable. For the first time all year, he felt comfortable admitting that, too.

“It’s actually the first time all year I can actually say that and not be afraid to say that,” he said. “But everything is slowing down a little bit.”

On Thursday, everybody hit. The Royals took advantage of mistakes and ambushed all night. Yet as they stood back at .500, Moss stood back inside the clubhouse, finally feeling free as an offense flashed it ceiling.

“The other day I was in the cage and I couldn’t even hit the ball off the tee right,” Moss said. “I mean, it was that bad. I just kind of said: ‘To heck with it. You get to the point where you’re like, I’m trying everything, I’m trying everything, I just got to let it go.”